Monday Morning Autograph - Johnny Field

 

Today's Autograph: 2014 Bowman Chrome Johnny Field 

Why Do I Own The Card: I first saw Johnny Field play at USA Baseball while he was a college baseball player at the University of Arizona. I ran into him again a few years later after he was drafted by the Rays and ended up playing with the Durham Bulls. In fact, beyond owning a bunch of Johnny Field baseball cards, I also own a game-used Johnny Field baseball bat.  

It's autographed.  

Back of the Card: 

Johnny Field's Career In A Haiku:

U of A Baseball 

Team USA, Tampa Bay Rays

Real Estate Agent (seriously) 

Monday Morning Autograph - Joc Pederson

 

Today's Autograph: 2015 Bowman Chrome Rookie Autographs 

Why Do I Own This Card: I first saw Joc Pederson at the 2014 Triple A All-Star Game, which took place in Durham. The Bulls hosted. Joc Pederson is somewhere in this picture in the visitors lineup. Maybe third from home plate?    

It was not the best night for many of the Pacific Coast League players, but Pederson stood out.  

In particular, he hit a really long home run, which do not happen often in Durham. The ballpark is much more pitcher friendly. Here is a look at the blast.  

Anyway, Pederson had a good night and I decided to purchase one of his autographs.  Just in case.  

Back of the Card: 

Joc Pederson's Career In A Haiku

Dodgers, Cubs, and Braves 

Where He Won A Series Ring 

Giants, Diamondbacks 

Random Ray: 1997 Bowman Chrome

The 1997 Bowman Chrome set is really underrated. It was the first Bowman Chrome set. I love the design and it's got a great checklist. There are rookie cards of players like Adrian Beltre, Lance Berkman, and Miguel Tejada. I am probably forgetting a few other players. There are also early cards of Roy Halladay, Nomar, and Jeter. What else do you want out of a Bowman product?  

There are also a handful of veteran cards, including Ray Lankford.  

Here is the front of the card.  

The Bowman base set and Chrome design varied in 1997. The Bowman base set had solid black borders while the Bowman Chrome product had stripes. Both are appealing and I like the contrast between the dark stripes or black border and the red inner border on the Cardinals cards. 

The Ray Lankford card has a nice action shot of him running the bases. Looks like he is trying to avoid being hit by the ball in between bases. The Cardinals have good looking uniforms. Not surprisingly, the red Budweiser sign in the background has been air brushed out.  

Back of the card.  

I love the Bowman card backs where it shows the player stats versus individual teams. The cards from the early 1990s had more stats, like hits and runs for the position players, but I still like this simplified version with the player picture on the right side of the card.  

That stat line against the Cubs is glorious. 

That stat line against the Braves is not so glorious.  

    

The player picture on the left is interesting in that Lankford is wearing a batting helmet without any ear flaps, which was against the rules at that point. The Cardinals still had Gary Gaetti and Ozzie Smith wearing the flapless batting helmets at this point, but they were grandfathered in because of age. Although the helmet is labeled "16" and clearly belongs to Ray. Must have been something he wore around during batting practice.  

Rental Returns

How long was Jordan Montgomery on the Cardinals?  

A year and I didn't spend any money on his cards, because he is boring along with the majority of the Cardinals current roster. When the Cardinals traded away a whole bunch of their roster a few weeks back, it was a chance for them to add some non-boring, non-terrible players to their roster and perhaps give me a few new names to collect.  

I was preparing myself for disappointment, but they actually got a decent return for a few rental pitchers.  

In particular, there are two players I am willing to collect.  

First up is infielder Thomas Saggese (sa-jas-ee).  

The Cardinals are playing Seggese at second base, currently with their Triple A team. What makes Saggese a non-boring player?  

This year, he has hit 26 home runs, 34 doubles, and 111 RBIS all with a .381 on-base percentage.  

He's currently blocked by Nolan Gorman and Tommy Edman, so hopefully someone gets traded for a non-boring pitcher who actually strikes out some batters.  

I'm hopeful.  

Saggese has a bunch of cards, including several autographs. Unfortunately, the prospecting crowd has caught up with him, so they can be a little pricey at times. I managed to land this Bowman Chrome autograph in exchange for a few other Bowman Chrome autographs. 

One more, because it's Saturday and I have a long to-do list today.  

Tekoah Roby has a little more risk, because he has an injury history. 

He also strikes out batters, which is something different for the Cardinals. His innings have been limited to just 12 over the past month, but he has 19 strikeouts with 3 walks and an ERA of 3 in those appearances.

Pretty good.  

The prospecting crowd has not caught up with Tekoah Roby, so his autographed cards are generally around $5.    

Friday Five: Favorite Delmon Young Cards

I have been writing about the Durham Bulls a lot this past week, so I figured I would break out some Delmon Young cards, scan them, and write them into a post. Delmon was a top 5 prospect for several years in the early 2000s and was the star of the Durham Bulls when I moved to North Carolina.  

His most famous moment as a top prospect for the Durham Bulls was launching his bat at an umpire after striking out in a game against Jon Lester......

Delmon would later go on to disappoint Rays and Twins fans, before developing a reputation as a clutch Postseason player for the Tigers and Orioles. He was out of MLB in his early thirties, but continued to play baseball overseas in the Australian League.  

Sorry, no Australian baseball cards in this post, but these are my Top 5 Delmon Young cards......

5. 2007 Topps 52 Chrome Delmon Young 

Yes, it's a reprint or rehashed design from 1952 Topps, but it's a really good looking card.  This is also when we started getting the "official" rookie cards. This is an official rookie card, unlike the other cards on this list, which are all unofficial.  

4. 2007 Topps Finest Autographs Delmon Young 

Baseball cards do not usually reference too much on-field drama, but here we are with Delmon's 2007 Finest autograph. Notice the "Revenge is Sweet" footnote at the bottom of the card. The back has a short write-up about the "revenge", but they go a little soft. So, here is the story this card is supposed to tell:

The Rays called up Delmon Young at the end of August 2006. His first game is against the White Sox in Chicago. Ozzie Guillen thinks Delmon is an ass and has Freddy Garcia drill him in the back on the first pitch in his first career at-bat. A few innings later, Delmon hit a home run off of Freddy Garcia.  

Here is a snippet of the box score:

Here is a white card with a silver sticker. I cannot roll my eyes hard enough.  

3. 2006 TIAA-CREF Durham Bulls Delmon Young 

Yes, I do work in education and would love to hear about your TIAA-CREF retirement plans, provided I get a baseball card for listening to your sales pitch.......

TIAA-CREF guy: "Save some money or you'll be on food stamps when you retire"  

I enjoyed the sales pitch, but after actually getting the Delmon Young card in my hands and hearing about my future on food stamps, I remembered that there is a financial advisor guy who stops by my school. I am going to teach for 30 years, get a full pension and benefits from the State of North Carolina, and now I also have a TIAA-CREF Delmon Young card. 

You do not see this card very often. 

2. 2004 Bowman Sterling Delmon Young Bat/Autograph 

Delmon could always hit.  

Delmon could never catch the ball.  

This card used to be worth a bazillion dollars and it shows Delmon likely playing a routine fly ball into a double or triple, depending on the speed of the batter. When people who are getting into prospecting ask my strategy as a Minor League for getting good cards of big prospects, I think of this card and tell them to wait a decade. I am certain this card had a three digit value when he was on the Bulls in 2005 and 2006, but it was $10 when I bought it.  

1. 2003 Bowman Chrome Delmon Young Autograph 

One of the great "what could have been" cards from the early 2000s. If only Delmon had stayed on the field a little longer and treated the regular season with the same urgency he treated the Postseason. Maybe not thrown a bat at an umpire, or yelled a bunch of antisemitic stuff at some guy in New York.  

Wander Who You Could Be Talking About?

The Durham Bulls had a really good infielder on their team. 

I am talking about Osleivis Basabe.  

He played a little bit at second, short, and third base. Pretty good bat to go along with his versatility in the field. Osleivis call-up was a little strange and happened during a Bulls game I attended against the Memphis Redbirds a few weeks back.

The Bulls posted a video without any sound of Basabe getting pulled from the game.  

A moment Osleivis Basabe will never forget 💙🧡

Manager Michael Johns gathered the team together during last night's game to announce Osleivis was going to the Big Leagues pic.twitter.com/9GUdyNqql1

— Durham Bulls (@DurhamBulls) August 13, 2023

Strange the Rays needed a shortstop in the middle of a game. I follow the Rays pretty closely and I did not see anyone get placed on the injured list. I thought the Rays had a shortstop? His name is slipping my mind at the moment, so let's not wander off topic. 

I am just going to keep talking about Osleivis Basabe.  

I have been able to add two Basabe autographs to my collection so far.  

First up is his 2021 Bowman Chrome autograph from his time with the Rangers.  

Nice looking card of him at Spring Training. 

I know there are people out there who, in the past, probably sank a lot of money into buying up Bowman Chrome autographs of Rays shortstop prospects. However, Basabe's Bowman Chrome autograph is right around $20. You could skip a box of cards at Target or Wally World and buy an autograph of the Rays starting shortstop instead.  

A little background on Osleivis.  

Basabe was signed by the Rangers as an International Free Agent out of Venezuela in 2017 and was traded to the Rays for Nate Lowe at the end of the 2020 season. For those who confuse all the Lowes on the Rays, Nate was a first baseman. Nate played on the Rays with Brandon Lowe, who is not related to Nate. The Rays now have Josh Lowe, who is Nate's brother and also teammates with Brandon Lowe. Anyway, Osleivis has been promoted from A-Ball all the way to the Majors over the past three seasons.  

I also found a Bowman Platinum autograph of Osleivis Basabe in a Rays uniform.  

It's a sticker autograph, but it also cost me less than $5.  

I feel like Osleivis Basabe might be my go-to infielder to collect on the Rays for the foreseeable future. Although, he created some waves earlier in the season when he stole Wool E. Bull's hat while the Bulls were celebrating a walk-off hit.  

Come for Kameron Misner's game-winning hit

Stay for Osleivis Basabe stealing Wool E. Bull's hat during the celebration 😂 pic.twitter.com/bsvjnlkzLO

— Durham Bulls (@DurhamBulls) June 25, 2023

I guess I could think of worse things that a talented, young shortstop could get caught doing then running around with a mascot's hat. No MLB investigations or anything.  

In the meantime, the Bulls have Austin Shenton taking a lot of at-bats as the shortstop since Basabe was promoted to the Majors. Another really good looking prospect. Shenton is older prospect, almost 26, and drafted out of Florida International by the Mariners. The Rays picked him up in the trade for Diego Castillo. Shenton has 26 home runs and 42 doubles between Double A and Triple A this year.  

His autographs are also pretty cheap.  

Less than $5 for this Bowman Chrome.  

For this entire post, I am under $30 for three autographs of three pretty promising Rays middle infielders. Maybe some more cards of Basabe and Shenton in the future. Let's see how they play and hope they don't wander into any problems.  

New Season, New Players

We are 60 games into the Minor League Season.  

I have been to a few Durham Bulls games this year.  

There are a lot of new faces on the team this year and I have been working hard the last few weeks to pick up some cards from the new players. I am going to sort them out by quality of prospect, but some of these players are flying completely under the baseball card radar.  

First up, Taj Bradley.  

He's actually pitched a bunch of games with the Rays this year. As good as the Rays have been, they have had a ton of pitching injuries. Taj Bradley is a Top 100 Prospect across the board, throws hard, and looks like all the other pitchers the Rays crank out. Somehow he has a bunch of autographs that are between $10-$20. I have not seen Taj in person yet this year, but I imagine the Rays will send him back to Triple A once some other pitchers come back.  

Next up is Curtis Mead.  

He's going to be the third baseman for Rays at some point, but he's currently on the injured list for the Bulls. Mead is not a new face. He debuted with the Bulls back in 2021. I actually got to see his Triple A debut, which was a little odd. The Rays had to call someone up unexpectedly, the Bulls had a thin roster, so they promoted Mead from A Ball (Charleston, SC) because he could drive to Durham for the game. 

I went for Adley Rutschman, but also got Curtis Mead and Felix Bautista.  

Mead is another Top 100 Prospect. He's also Australian, that's a bonus. 

You do not get many MLB players from Idaho, but Kyle Manzardo is from the Potato State. He is also another Top 100 Prospect. Good looking first baseman/outfielder, nice looking left-handed swing.  Super cheap baseball cards too.  

This is actually a double. I picked it up in a trade, but still love Jonathan Aranda. He was on the Bulls last year, back this year. Aranda can hit, but does not really have a defensive position. Should I say it?

He's a Top 100 Prospect, but only on the Baseball America list.  

That's four Top 100 Prospects and none of them are the best player I have seen in a Bulls game this year. It's tough watching the Bulls some days. 

On to a pair of non-Top 100 Prospects.  

Picked up a pair of Kameron Misner cards. He's a Missouri native, from Poplar Bluff, and also played at Mizzou during college. Misner was drafted by the Marlins and traded to the Rays last summer for Joey Wendle. No Rays cards yet, so I went for a Marlins rookie card and a sparkly Mizzou card from Panini. 

Misner is a really good defender in the outfield, but not the best hitter. Although, he has a crazy walk rate. Misner has around 200 at-bats and has walked almost 40 times. He's doesn't quite lead the league, but close.  

Last one for tonight. 

Tanner Murray has only played a few games this year. Three of them were with the Bulls. Why did I get this card?  I am a sucker for combined shipping and this card was two dollars. That's a pretty good deal for a Bowman Chrome autograph.  

Murray was decent in the lower Minors the past two years, so why not?  

A few more Durham Bulls related cards next week.  

Bullish

The Durham Bulls won the Triple A Championship last year.  

The @DurhamBulls are the 2022 Triple-A National Champions!#TripleAWeekend | @raysbaseball pic.twitter.com/VSOl4qbUVc

— Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) October 3, 2022

That's two Triple A Championships in a row.  

I did not write much about it last year, but it was a pretty impressive group of prospects. Come to think of it, I did not write about much of anything last year. Several of the Bulls players will graduate to the Majors and will be with the Rays this summer. The team did have a few of the younger players might who might be back in Durham for another year. Either way, I have started working on putting together cards of the players.  

Today, I am starting out with two of the better Major League prospects on last year's Bulls team.  

First up, pitcher Taj Bradley.  

I have been meaning to pick up a card of Taj Bradley for awhile, but just did not get there until recently. He is only 21 and was only with the Bulls for the second half of last season, so there is a chance that he is back in Durham to start this season. Taj is a hard thrower with control. He's on most Top 100 prospect lists and has autographs on Ebay for less than $20.  

You should probably buy one and thank me later.  

Next.  

Jonathan Aranda.  

He hits and gets on-base. Reminds me a lot of Allen Craig, but he's left-handed.

Aranda has been a good player in the Minors for the past few years, but strangely has almost no cards outside of a base card and an autograph in the 2023 Topps set. He had less than 100 at-bats in the Majors last year, so I was a little surprised that he showed up on cards this year. 

Not going to complain.  

Big on both of these players for the coming year.  

Shades of Pat Burrell

Long ago, the Phillies selected Pat Burrell from the University of Miami with the first pick of the Major League Baseball draft.  All the baseball card companies rushed to throw his cards into packs.  I actually managed to pull a few Pat Burrell cards when they were popular and I also felt like I had somehow been ripped off.  It was not really the quality of the baseball cards that were disappointing, but Pat Burrell's signature made them hard to love.  

I still cringe to this date.  

It's hard to believe that Pat Burrell was popular at any point based on the quality of his autograph alone.  

Fast forward twenty years into the future.  

The San Francisco Giants selected NC State catcher Patrick Bailey in the first round of the Major League Draft. I was excited to see the former Wolfpack player play for the Giants and appear on a few baseball cards.  The baseball cards were actually slightly anticlimactic.  Bailey had been playing for USA Baseball for several years and had appear in all kinds of different Panini products.  

Not the best signature, but he was also in high school when this card was made.  Still, I was on the look-out for his cards right up to the moment when I saw his signature.  

It changed. 

Bailey has now been in professional baseball for over a year. Topps and Panini have cranked out a decent number of Patrick Bailey cards.  I am just getting around to adding a few of his autographed cards.   They weren't expensive or hard to find.  They just have an uncanny resemblance to the old Pat Burrell cards.  

This is a Bowman Chrome autograph of Bailey.  

I actually think Bailey has a worse signature than Burrell.  This card is actually the better of the two Patrick Bailey signatures in this post.  It's really hard to quantify, but this is a really bad signature.  This autograph feels like it's in the neighborhood of Geronimo Gil, who was an Orioles catcher in the early 2000s.  

Last Bailey card is from Bowman's Best.  

This one is even worse.  I feel so unsatisfied.  

I cannot wait to see Patrick Bailey in the Majors and I hope he has a long career.  I also hope he takes a little more time to sign his name in the future.  Bailey's autograph can only get better.  

I think.  

The Bulls Collection of Players Named Lowe.

A few years back the Durham Bulls, really the Rays, had two players with the last name Lowe.  

There was Nate Lowe.  

Who is now on the Rangers.  

There was also Brandon Lowe.  

Who is now the Rays starting second baseman.  

The Bulls did not field a team last year due to the pandemic, so they did not have a chance to put a player with the last name Lowe on the field.  Naturally, when the 2021 season started the name Lowe reappeared on the roster.  This time it's outfielder Jose Lowe.  

He is leading the International League in slugging.  I am not calling it Triple-A East, or whatever Rob Manfred renamed the league.  

He's been a good player and is way more affordable than Wander Franco or Vidal Brujan.  

So, here is the card.  

This is one of those cards that Topps rushed to produce.  Yes, it is clearly airbrushed, but the metal bleachers in the background are a clear giveaway that this is a picture from a high school baseball game of some sort.  I think it would actually be cooler if the parents/spectators in the background were in lawn chairs.  

Whoever is behind his left shoulder is not even watching the game.  

There are not many Josh Lowe cards out there.  Like many other prospects on the Rays, they get the first Bowman card and then they are ignored until they are suddenly playing well in the Majors.  It's the same thing that happened to the two other Lowes, although Nate was not a serious prospect.  

Cards I Love Part 12 - 2003 Bowman Chrome Delmon Young

Thanksgiving weekend of 2005, I packed up my Toyota Camry, and moved myself to Durham, North Carolina.  I was in my late 20s, was in need of a change of scenery, and had a chance to take on a new teaching job in a new place.  The move also gave me a new baseball team to watch.

The first few months living in North Carolina were filled with basketball season, which is serious business in these parts.  It was rather eventful too, but luckily I was just a neutral observer at this point. 

Baseball season started in April, and my first Durham Bulls game ended in a walk-off grand slam by shortstop prospect B.J. Upton.  It was an incredible game, and I was immediately a fan of the Rays Triple A team. 

The Bulls were loaded with talent, and the games were fun to watch. B.J. Upton, Delmon Young, Elijah Dukes, Darnell McDonald, Sean Burroughs, Ben Zobrist, Jason Hammel, Edwin Jackson, J.P. Howell, and James Shields all played for the Bulls the first year I followed the team.  There were at least another dozen players who appeared in the Majors beyond my list of names above.  Kevin Witt, the team's first baseman, added to the season by winning the International League MVP with 36 home runs and 99 RBIs in just 128 games. 

Somehow that much talent ended the season 14 games under .500.  The Bulls were one of the worst teams in the league.  Beyond all the talent, the Bulls were filled with all sorts of characters and disfunction.  B.J. Upton got a DUI hanging out in Chapel Hill, Elijah Dukes was Elijah Dukes, and Delmon Young threw a bat at an umpire after striking out and arguing the call. 

'

As a baseball card collector, I was determined to collect a few of these players.  They were not really that bad, right?  Surely, they would figure it out at some point.  I decided that I was going to collect Delmon Young cards.  He was the top rated prospect in all of baseball, and he looked the part while watching him.  Delmon was not going to let me down, so I picked up a copy of his 2003 Bowman Chrome autograph.  

It was my first great Durham Bulls card in my collection.  I loved this card, and was determined to make it work out.  Delmon Young was going to be a great player.  He was called up to the Majors at the end of the 2006 season, and made his Major League debut against the White Sox.  

Freddy Garcia promptly drilled him in the ribs during his first at-bat, but that was fine since Delmon took him yard later in the game.  Delmon Young was going to be a great player, it was going to work out.  

Delmon spent a decade in the Majors shuffling from team to team.  He said a lot of stupid stuff, burned a lot of bridges, and he hit like he was a Hall of Famer during the playoffs.  Delmon won the 2012 ALCS MVP Award, and had several other playoffs series with video game like numbers.  He was clutch.  

That was Delmon's career.  Every October he hit, but between April and September a lot of other stuff happened that was cringe worthy.  

I do love my 2003 Bowman Chrome Delmon Young autograph, but I think of the card as the beginning of my Durham Bulls card collection, rather than a card I own because of the player pictured on the front.  After all, even after he retired Delmon is still doing a lot of interesting stuff.

I should also point out that while the Bulls teams I have watched since the first year have not always had the same caliber, nor quantity of talent as that first team I watched, the nine division titles, four International League titles, and two Triple A Championships have more than made up for the disfunction.  Good thing I got this Delmon Young card, and started my Bulls collection.  

College Cards

I spent last week working on some cards of players who share a college with me.  I have two degrees from two different school, and managed to find a card from each school.  The idea of finding a card of a player from NC State is not all that surprising, but the whole Southeast Missouri State thing is a rarity.  Throw in the fact that one of these cards was an exchange, which never seem to actually pan out in my world, and I did not even know of the other's existence before this month.  

Let's start with the NC State player, who is also a prime Cardinals prospect.  

Andrew Knizner was drafted out of NC State a few years ago.  The infielder, turned catcher, was a good college player, but was a bit of a mess defensively before entering the Minors.  While in Raleigh, Knizner was switched from third base to catcher literally before the start of a game.  He's been a bit of a project on defense, but apparently has improved.  The Cardinals always have some catcher in waiting behind Yadier Molina, but Yadier never seems to slow down.  I am not sure if the team is serious this time, or if Knizner will end up playing somewhere else.  Meaning either a different position, or in a different town.  

I am not a big fan of Leaf cards, but this is the only Knizner autograph that is out there.  The card also uses a picture of Knizner from college.  The red looks good on a Cardinals card, but check out the sleeves on the jersey.  Check out the sleeves on the catcher's jersey in this picture....

The mask and chest protector are different in this picture, but this is Knizner from college.  Sleeveless jersey, red stripe on the side of the pants.  Pretty cool that Knizner's first Cardinals autograph also has him wearing an NC State jersey.  

Next.  

This was an exchange card from Bowman Chrome last year.  I never count on these to actually show up anymore.  This one showed up.  

Lucchesi went to Southeast Missouri State a few years back.  It has been awhile since there has been a player from that school in the Majors.  In the past twenty years there have been a total of four players from the small teacher's college: Lucchesi, Justin Christian, Shae Simmons, and Kerry Robinson.  Not a lot there.  The fact that Lucchesi played an entire Major League season pretty much makes him the greatest player to ever come out of Southeast Missouri.  

The school even gets a shout out on the back of this card.  

Lucchesi has a good stuff, and the card does a good job of describing the pitches he throws, but there are also a lot of arms and legs in his delivery.  This does not do his pitching motion justice, but I think he is definitely a hard player to hit against....

especially for lefties.  Last year he struck out slightly more than one-third of the left-handed batters that he faced.  I think he's going to be around for awhile.  

Before we go, y'all know I hate those Topps stickers on the exchange cards.  That's no way to enjoy a baseball card.  I want to see the card, not a giant white sticker.  

That's better.  I should have taken it out of the top loader too, which always shows every scratch and scuff mark on cards with reflective surfaces.  For another day though....